Interview
with Joey Spampinato previous
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PM: So, in 30 years, you've accomplished a lot as a band. What goals do
you still hope to achieve, personally or as a group?

JS:
Well, as a band, it's been an
ongoing quest, you might say.
We always wanted to put the
music first, whether it fit
in with the scene or not. From
the start, the creed of the
band was that the music itself
was the most important thing.
We feel like we've stuck to
that, and if that's how one
judges success, then I guess
we've been successful. We always
felt that if we were going to
be a smash sensation, we wanted
to get there as we really were,
then you could feel that You
were a success. We'd rather
that than compromise until you
get a hit, and then you can
do whatever you want. We just
never figured it that way.

PM: More like a relationship.
If you get the girl by being
other than you really are, what's
the point?

JS:
Exactly. So, that's been the unwritten
code of the band: we always do
the music that we like, and don't
sacrifice anything for the sake
of it being understood. We play
whatever we think is good, or
fun, and figure that there will
be people who agree with us. But
we've always followed our own
hearts in that respect.

PM:
In a business where so many
acts conform to corporate constraints,
somebody's got to do it.

JS:
We feel that that's what we
do. You might say that we're
not in the music business, but
that our business is making
music. We're in the creation
business.

PM:
Is it still fun?

JS:
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Besides,
every once in a while, I wonder,
"What would I be doing if I wasn't
doing this?" That's kind of a
scary
thought to me. One could
always do something else, I mean,
we're men, we could do whatever
needs to be done. But we do all
right, and we do what we want
to do. And I've done it all my
life, it's hard to imagine doing
something else.

PM:
It's amazing that you're the
only band that went the distance
playing multi-genre music. I
guess the Beatles did it, in
their way, but they were 10
records into the game before
they started branching out.

JS:
That was, of course, a different
scene. They opened the gate
for self-contained groups, singers
that backed themselves up musically.
Who else was doing that? The
Beach Boys, at the time. It's
hard to think of anybody else
that did it before them. I think
the Four Seasons more or less
backed themselves up, but it
wasn't until the Beatles that
it became a self-contained,
self-composed phenomenon.

PM:
Didn't the '50s produce any groups
like that?

JS: No,
there were singers, and producers, and bands that backed them up. There
were a cappella groups, the producer would assemble a band, and make a
record. So the Beatles opened up a whole new direction, and happened to
be the best at what they did at the time, and the cream rose to the top.
And they were talented enough to dip into different music, to have a number
one with "Yellow Submarine," or play "When I'm 64," or Indian music, or
whatever.

PM:
Did NRBQ ever dip into the Indian
music well?

JS:
We did add a tamboura, the drone
instrument, to a track once, but
we didn't want to overemphasize
it, which sounded passe to us.
It got so buried in the mix eventually
that I can't even remember what
track it was now. It's a music
we haven't really approached very
much.

PM:
You do just about everything else.

JS:
We don't rule anything out.
We like everything, so how do
you rule anything out? There
will be a right time to use
it.

PM:
Bonnie Raitt, one of your most
enthusiastic supporters, broke
into the mainstream decades
into her career. Do you think
the same thing could happen
to NRBQ? Could they make a CD
that commercial, in the positive
sense of the word?

JS:
I can't say enough good things about Bonnie Raitt. She's been around about
as long as we have, and has hung tough with the style of music that she
wanted to do. She was fortunate to hook up with a certain producer who
wanted to do a certain type of record with her at a certain time, and
she was in the right frame of mind to do it. All the elements clicked,
and it took off for her, and it's just great. She had a couple of big
records in a row, and it just shows that it's never too late. You keep
doing the music you like, and some door might open. When I went to record
with her recently on a record called Fundamental, she had a different
producer then [Mitchell Froom], who wanted to take it in a different direction.
It didn't have quite the success that the previous two records had, but
she wasn't trying to repeat the formula. She was continuing to create
music.

PM:
And you have a tune on that
record, right?

JS:
When I was there, they were still
looking for tunes. When I heard
that somebody was sending over
a song that they were gonna listen
to that afternoon, I said, "Well,
I have a song you might like.
If you think you could get a hold
of this, it might work out."
I hate the feeling of pressure,
you know, or creating a sense
of obligation that if I gave her
a song, she should do it or something.
It bugs me to give someone a tune
when that's possible. As an artist
yourself, you know, if someone
gives you a song that they think
is good for you, it doesn't mean
that you'll think so, too.

PM:
And it's an emotionally charged
situation, when they're looking
for a song, and you have one
in your pocket.

JS:
Right, the pitching thing kind
of bugs me. It was more like "if
you think you could do something
with this, great. If not, fine."

PM:
You recently married Kami Lyle,
another great musician. How
has that changed your life?

JS:
First of all, it's made me really
happy. She's beautiful and fun
to be around, so it's constant
entertainment. Plus, she loves
me back, as the song goes. But
on top of that, it's really
changed my work ethic. She's
so talented, and can write many
styles. She can write pop, country,
and jazz, in a really classy
way. She only put out one release
on MCA before parting ways,
but you're going to hear a lot
from Kami Lyle. She's such a
hard worker that it's had a
big effect on me. Before we
hooked up, when I was off the
road, I used to actually avoid
my guitar as much as possible.
Nowadays, if I don't do something
in the creative realm every
day, I just don't feel right.

PM:
Naturally, everybody likes their
last song and their last record
best. Aside from 1999's NRBQ,
what's your favorite Q record?

JS:
Aside from our last record? [laughs]
As a total record? That's hard
to say. When you make a record,
you have favorite songs on it,
and every record is like that.
Each record builds around these
songs, and becomes that album
to you. I don't know, it's changed
over the years, and I don't listen
to the records at home. Every
now and then, I'll put something
on, to remember it better.

PM:
At Yankee Stadium is awfully
strong.

JS:
A lot of people think that's our
best record. I'm not sure why,
I guess it's the songs.

PM:
It's just really consistent. I
mean, the Q is so omnipop, the
records can go all over the place,
in wonderful ways. But I don't
want to put words in your mouth.

JS:
Some people think Scraps
is our best album, too. It was
just re-released by Rounder with
a few bonus tracks from that time.
But then, our first record with
Columbia in 1969 [with original
guitarist Steve Ferguson and drummer
Tom Staley] was special, and created
the mold for all that came afterward.
I think Columbia has put out something
that includes unreleased bits
from that period, but I'm not
sure what's on it. The first record
has lots of styles represented,
rockabilly, and Sun Ra's "Rocket
#9," etc. And Steve Ferguson
was a great writer, though his
material of this time never really
saw the light of day. He went
off into more specialized areas
of blues and R&B.

PM:
Is the band in touch with Steve
Ferguson today?

JS:
Oh yeah. We did a couple of
outdoor riverfront gigs with
him in Louisville recently.

PM:
Speaking of good guitar players,
what's it like playing with
your brother Johnny in the group
now?

JS:
That's the biggest kick for
me. You know, you have a brother
that you've played with all
your life. You guys are closer
in age. But Johnny is 8 years
younger than me, and when we
started the band, he was a kid.
But he was always a smart kid,
and he caught on right away
to what the band was, and kind
of idolized us. He knew how
great both Steve Ferguson and
Al Anderson were as guitar players,
and was influenced by them as
he picked it up himself and
started his own bands. And when
Al replaced Steve in '71, he
was in the band for over 20
years, so there was never an
opening in the lineup. I always
thought that someday we would
play together. When two brothers
play guitar and bass, how could
you not end up playing together,
you know? You just each keep
doing what you're doing, and
know that someday it might happen.
And when Al moved on in '94,
Johnny was the natural choice
to take over the guitar chair.
When Al was busy with another
project in '93, Johnny filled
in for a couple of gigs, and
we saw that it would work.

PM:
And although Al's shoes were
really impossible to fill, the
fans really seem to have been
won over now by Johnny's contribution.

JS:
Sure, it was hard at first. Al
had a lot of fans and was a very
big presence on stage. Those were
hard shoes to fill, so you can't
try to fill them. It's about a
new pair of shoes. Johnny's the
right style of guitar player for
NRBQ, and it works even better,
because I have a real rapport
with him on stage that I didn't
have with Al. As much as I loved
Al over the years, playing
with your brother is a
different thing.

PM:
And Johnny's also collaborating
on some good tunes.

JS:
We're still working on that.
At the same time that he joined,
he and his wife had just had
a son, so it's very difficult
to leave home in that period.
His hands were completely full
when he got home. I don't know
how he does it, and finds time
to write.

PM:
But I really like the songs from
the new record that he co-wrote:
"Breakaway to My Dreams,"
"Housekeeping," and my favorite
one, can't think of it...

JS:
"Blame it on the World."

PM:
Right. Love that song. Has VH-1
ever been any help to the band?

JS:
We've never really had a video budget. We did two for Virgin on Wild
Weekend, the title song and "If I Don't Have You."

PM:
One of my favorite songs of
yours.

JS:
Thanks. We didn't like the first
video, we had a director who didn't
really portray us the way we would
have liked. On the second video,
we had a hipper director, and
she did listen to things we wanted
to do, and it was a more fun shoot.
So it was better, more representative.
But by then, the person who had
signed us to Virgin was long gone.
And without our champion, we didn't
have the necessary support, though
we still had some fans at the
label. We got a few plays at VH-1,
but MTV didn't come aboard. We
didn't break any glass or weren't
rock and roll enough or something.
They weren't looking for something
that was fun, they were looking
for a different, more aggressive
or depressive attitude at the
time.

PM:
Surely there a lot of heads
like Bill Flanagan at VH-1 that
are NRBQ fans.

JS:
Yes, there are. And we have
something possible in the works
with them that I can't talk
about right now.

PM:
Where has the band found success
outside the US?

JS:
For the longest time, we never
went overseas. We'd see all
kinds of bands going over to
Europe and doing well, and we'd
wonder "how come we can't go
to these places?" We never really
had the right management, so
to speak. But finally in the
80's we got over to London to
play, also to a few cities in
Germany and Scandinavia. But
we didn't get to go back for
a long time. Just four years
ago, we went to Japan for the
first time, and we've been back
twice since. We have great fans
there.

PM:
Never been to Australia as a
group? I'll bet you have lots
of fans there.

JS:
Not yet. But it seems like wherever
we go, we find fans. It's just
a matter of lining it up. When
you get there, you wonder why
you never played there before,
but you have to have somebody
find a way to do it, and we actually
don't. The members aren't inclined
that way. But we do have new management
now in the last year and a half,
and we think we're headed in a
better direction.

PM:
Your management is Labyrynth in
San Francisco, right? Are they
young, global thinking folks?

JS:
Yes, they are.

PM:
That brings up a question. How
well do you think that NRBQ's
music is crossing over to the
college crowd or younger, and
how will that bridge be addressed?

JS:
It changes over the years. We
used to play a lot in colleges.
I'd notice that when we did that
a lot, we'd do well in that 4
year span, like a crop of new
listeners. Playing the clubs,
you're less inclined to find airplay
or exposure to that crowd. And
yet, the shows always have plenty
of young listeners.

PM:
I mean, it seems to me that somebody
should be trying to book some
shows with Phish or The Other
Ones [the reformed Grateful Dead],
right?

JS:
Well, we did some shows with
the Dead three years ago, and
we did pretty well. But you
still have to hammer it home,
and you have to get the blessing
of the source, so the fans know...

PM:
You're sanctioned.

JS:
Right, something like that. Because
we're different than the Dead,
or Phish, you know. There's another
band of that group that like us,
and do "Flat Foot Flewzy," from
Athens, I think, Widespread Panic.
We did some shows with them.

PM: Did the REM tour
open up some stuff for you?

JS:
I don't know, that was more
of an alternative audience than
the bands we just mentioned.
But we made some new fans, I'm
sure.

PM:
What advice do you have for
young musicians today?

JS:
[pause] You know, I don't think
I'd give any advice. You have
to make your own decisions, and
you'll make them. If you really
want to pursue the life of a musician,
then you will. If you're only
in it to make a quick pile of
money, then you're in the wrong
place.

PM:
Anything to say to older, or
more mature musicians?

JS:
Not really. I don't like to
be told what to do, so I wouldn't
presume.

PM:
What was it like being part
of a Simpsons episode?

JS:
When Mike Scully told us that
they were going to animate us,
it was the biggest kick. I mean,
they've been popular for so long
now, if you get animated on the
Simpsons, you've really arrived.
So it was a big thing. And [future
wife] Kami was a huge fan of the
show, so it completely floored
her. We'd watch it every Sunday
night that I was home. Maybe that's
why she married me! [laughs] We
actually played their annual party
last year, and got to go to a
reading where they do the first
run through of the script. There's
a big long table in the middle
of the room where the characters
are reading, and a seated gallery
along the edges of the room. And
it's great to see Bart's voice
come out of a woman, for example.
And when you see this guy throw
Homer's voice out into the room,
it's a wild experience, kind of
crazy.

PM:
But crazier yet to see a song
of yours come out of their mouth.

JS: What
actually happened was that Castellaneta, who does Homer's voice, sang
these lyrics that the writers wrote a cappella, and sent us the tape.
They wanted touching music put to these words. So we took this thing that
he just danced around and did off the top of his head and preserved the
melody intact, and put chord changes underneath it. You know how a melody
is different, depending on the changes you put to it, different shades
of feeling. So I ended up singing it in the segment, it was wild.

PM:
And then you also appeared as
yourselves, at the end of the
show.

JS:
Right. The tape clip was from
a multi-camera shoot at our 30th
anniversary show at the Bowery
Ballroom in NYC. We had them film
us doing our version of the Simpsons
end theme, which was intended
for that show. Originally they
were going to animate that too,
but there was no time. And they
came up with the idea to shoot
us doing it live instead. So,
I think we're the only non-cartoon
characters to ever appear on the
show. I've never seen it, but
I've been told that there's one
other episode where Bart goes
through a wormhole or something
and ends up for a few seconds
on the street in NYC. That's the
only other non-cartoon segment,
I believe.

PM:
Over decades of interviews, is
there a question that people never
ask that you'd like to be asked
and answer here?

JS:
You know, I've never been too
extroverted, and don't really
crave the spotlight. I'm under
it when I do what I do, and that's
okay. But I don't like the focus
of attention to be on me, and
tend to avoid it. So, no, not
really.

PM:
What's your favorite song to
play live lately?

JS:
I like "Blame It On the World,"
and I like doing "Housekeeping,"
it's fun, and they're both new.

PM:
Is there a perennial live favorite
of yours?

JS:
I think "If I Don't Have You,"
one of my songs. When it gets
called, it always seems to work,
and I don't get tired of it.

PM:
Where does that great live number
come from "You got the Right
String, Baby, but the Wrong
Yo-Yo?"

JS:
I think it's an old song, but
the version we drew from came
from Piano Red, if you're familiar
with him. Dr. Feelgood.

PM:
Read anything good lately?

JS:
I usually like those Crichton
books. He
always does his homework, and
writes a fast moving story. And
I recently turned on to Carl Hiassen,
I've read a few on the plane.
I liked the title of "Lucky You"
and picked that up. So I read
a couple more, "Skin Tight" and
"Stormy Weather," all really
good stuff with great characters.

PM:
Heard anything good lately?

JS:
Well, we like your record, and
I listen to that lately.

PM:
Well, that's nice, but...anything
else?

JS:
No, I want you to write that
down.

PM:
Okay, I will. And lastly, Joey,
how important is it to you or
to the group to get in the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame?

JS:
Important? It's not really important.
I'm not even so sure that any
such thing should really exist.
It's antithetical to the whole
idea of rock and roll, you know?
If you were on some mind expanding
drug, you'd think it was ridiculous.

PM:
So, although some fans are creating
a grassroots movement to get
NRBQ inducted, it doesn't really
matter to you.

JS:
No, it doesn't really matter.
It's flattering if people think
you're great and want to include
you in such a thing, but as
far as it having any real meaning,
I don't think it does. As you
get older, things like that
don't mean much in the grand
scheme of things. It's just
my opinion. I'd rather have
a hit record.

PM:
It starts and ends with the
music.

JS: That's
about the size of it. I don't like the soapbox, I like the stage.